St Kilda Consulting 01 - Always Time to Die

happened to make Josh the favored son?”
    “Vietnam. His older brother died.”
    Carly rubbed her chilly arms. “The things Winifred didn’t think worth mentioning about the Quintrell family are boggling.”
    “You just said why. Quintrell, not Castillo.”
    “Oh, that’s bull. These days they’re pretty much the same family.”
    “Not to her. Winifred tells her own story in her own way.”
    “Well, I haven’t had much time with her. She might have been planning to tell me more about her sister’s family. Still…” Carly shook her head. “To think of all that struggle, all that wealth, all those lives and deaths, all the history; and it all comes down to a useless piece of protein like A. J. Quintrell V.”
    Dan lifted his eyebrow. “I’ve never met him.”
    “Be grateful.”
    “What do you have against him?”
    “He thinks women are one endless roll of toilet paper created solely to wipe his butt.”
    “Sounds like his granddaddy.”
    “Why is it that the worst breed true and the best die young?”
    “You figure that out and you’ll be the next TV guru.”
    The wind blew hard, as it had on and off all night. The adobe part of the house didn’t tremble with the weight of the shifting wind, but the broken window let in a lot of cold air. Carly rubbed her arms again.
    “Is it okay if I start a fire in the hearth?” she asked.
    “The woodpile is outside.”
    “Is that a yes or a no?”
    “The temperature dropped again. It’s freezing out there. I’ll get the wood while you put water on to boil for coffee.”
    Her eyes gleamed and she sighed. “Coffee. What are you waiting for?”
    “You to leave so I can get dressed. Or,” he said, reaching for the blankets covering his lap, “you can stick around and we’ll warm up the old-fashioned way.”
    “Bundling?” she asked, all but fanning her eyelashes.
    The blankets started rising.
    Carly turned her back and ran for the kitchen, grinning every step of the way. It was fun to tease Dan, to watch the grim lines of his face shift into a smile. She didn’t know what he’d done before he came back to Taos, but she knew it hadn’t been easy.
    And he was way too comfortable with a gun.
    By the time she put together coffee, heated tortillas, and scrambled eggs, the fire was snapping and dancing over chunks of frozen piñon. The heat was on, too, but its surly electric fire didn’t make a dent in the cold, wind-driven air rushing through from the living room. She shivered, handed Dan his coffee and breakfast, and went to stand beside the fire.
    “Tell me again why you rented this place,” she muttered.
    “The cottonwood tree.” Then, “I thought you loved history.”
    “I hate getting up to a cold floor.”
    “That’s okay. You made up for whining by cooking breakfast along with the coffee.”
    “I didn’t whine.”
    “You shrieked.”
    She waved her hand. “Different thing entirely.”
    “Then you whimpered until your feet went numb.”
    “Your point is?”
    He smiled at her. “Damned if I know.”
    She gave him an eye-roll and smiled into her coffee. Even with icy feet, it was fun to wake up with Dan nearby. The fact that she’d spent a lot of restless time last night wishing nearby had been a lot closer was her problem. She’d been sending out I-don’t-think-I’m-ready signals, and he’d respected them. The fact that he didn’t push, shove, crowd, demand, nag, or sulk told her more than a night of wild jungle sex with him could have.
    And the thought of that kind of sex with Dan stopped her breath.
    “When are you leaving?” he asked.
    “Leaving? You want me to go to a motel?”
    “No, I want you to go home, where it’s safe.”
    “The deputy and I had this conversation last night. That’s when I pointed out his office wasn’t exactly sweating over my safety so why should I?”
    Dan looked at her stubborn expression and knew he wasn’t going to have any better luck than the deputy.
    “Besides,” Carly added, “when you think about it, it’s been all show and no go.”
    “Sound and fury signifying nothing?”
    “Exactly. No harm, no foul.” She forced a casual shrug. “Anyway, running was never my best sport.”
    “What could I say to make you change your mind?”
    She thought about it. “Nothing. But if you want to get away from the fallout zone, I completely understand. I’ll pay for replacing the window and—”
    “Are you trying to make me mad?” Dan cut in.
    She looked at his face, swallowed